Certain types of products, particularly bulk products such as granulated soap, are commonly sold in large cartons provided with carrying handles. Because of the bulkiness and weight of the cartons the handles have to be especially strong, and thus preferably are not integrally formed from the carton blank. In one popular type of carton, for example, the handle consists of a separate strap which is glued to the carton in the packaging machine. Because the orientation of the blank for carton folding purposes requires that the handle be applied at right angles to the direction of movement of the carton blanks, it is necessary for the handle applicator to receive a handle, rotate it to the proper alignment, then apply it to the correct location on the blank, all at a speed which does not slow the flow of cartons through the high speed packaging machine.
This has been done in the past by a handle applicator which is rotated in one direction by a single direction cam, then returned to its original position by a return spring. This arrangement, however, creates problems. The spring return does not allow the turning apparatus to operate consistently as fast and as reliably as desired. Further, it tends to need more maintenance attention than a high speed machine should require.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved handle applicator which is more reliable than the type previously used. To do away with the single direction cam and spring return design, however, is made difficult by the lack of space available for the turning apparatus of the handle applicator and by the extremely high speeds at which the equipment must operate. It is made even more difficult by the requirement that the mechanism be relatively maintenance-free.